UN Official:World Food Crisis is Beatable

Since 2005 the average price of food has doubled. The International Food Policy Research Institute says a major reason for this is poor quality and management of land. But Luc Gnacadja, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification says this situation could be reversed. CRI's Dominic Swire reports.

Access to food is one of the basic needs of humanity. But its supply is under threat. One of the main problems is the lack of land to produce it. Luc Gnacadja is head of the UN's mission to combat desertification.

"The system's under threat not because there's a lack of food, but because it's not well shared. In some areas we have too much food being produced and misused and in others there's scarcity. In other areas some people have no access to food because they can't afford access. In some places these people are using 70 percent of earnings to buy food. This is unsustainable."

Mr Gnacadja says many of those that go hungry are small scale farmers. He says the key is helping these people grow more food.

"So if we want to help these people out of poverty and hunger, we need to help them get productivity of their land back. This is possible, it's cost effective and efficient. Why is the world not doing this?"

Another problem contributing to food shortages is the increasing number of mouths to feed. The UN predicts the world's population will increase 25 percent in the next 25 years. Luc Gnacadja says the solution is better education.

"When you have infant mortality that's very high people have the strategy of having more children because they don't know how many will die before the age of 3 or 5. So the way to help is to improve health care, access to information, life standards, and take people out of hunger. This will have an impact, as we've seen it in many places."

One suggestion to fight the world food crisis is for countries to share more information about how much food they produce.

But Mr Gnacadja says this is sometimes easier said than done.

"Food production can be sensitive, especially in times of scarcity or drought. Some countries are reluctant to share info but we are in a world where globalization is calling for more cooperation and the free market is also calling for a minimum of transparency. Predictability will help the market function in a way sustainable for all including for the poor. So it's important an agreement can be reached among all nations on information sharing that will alleviate the risk or bring more predictability to market."

Next year the UN will host a major summit in Brazil aiming to strengthen political commitment towards sustainable development. It is here we will see to what extent Mr Gnacadja's optimism is well grounded.

For CRI, I'm Dominic Swire.